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Home Alone: The birth of a lawyer

17 December 2021 / Peter Mansfield
Issue: 7961 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Peter Mansfield reveals the shocking truth about a popular Christmas film

We need to talk about Kevin McCallister.

Can you remember the day you decided to become a lawyer? Or perhaps it is more accurate to say: the day you realised that you were already a lawyer. Because lawyering is something that is always within us, waiting to emerge, like a tarantula from a terrarium. All it needs is for the terrarium to break and the spider of justice is freed.

For Kevin, that moment occurred on 24 December 1990, aged eight.

Kevin’s legal epiphany is documented in the film, Home Alone. The pivotal moment in that story occurs when Kevin’s family travels to France for Christmas, accidentally leaving Kevin behind at home, alone. Well, I say ‘accidentally’. In fact, I suspect there is something Freudian going on. Perhaps Kevin was the unintended result of a night of passion and there is an unconscious rejection thing in play. Who knows? Whatever the reason, his family’s attitude towards

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Partner joins family law team inLondon

Jackson Lees Group—five promotions

Jackson Lees Group—five promotions

Private client division announces five new partners

Taylor Wessing—Max Millington

Taylor Wessing—Max Millington

Banking and finance team welcomes partner in London

NEWS
The landmark Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd—along with Rukhadze v Recovery Partners—redefine fiduciary duties in commercial fraud. Writing in NLJ this week, Mary Young of Kingsley Napley analyses the implications of the rulings
Barristers Ben Keith of 5 St Andrew’s Hill and Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers use the arrest of Simon Leviev—the so-called Tinder Swindler—to explore the realities of Interpol red notices, in this week's NLJ
Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys [2025] has upended assumptions about who may conduct litigation, warn Kevin Latham and Fraser Barnstaple of Kings Chambers in this week's NLJ. But is it as catastrophic as first feared?
Lord Sales has been appointed to become the Deputy President of the Supreme Court after Lord Hodge retires at the end of the year
Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are reportedly in the firing line in Chancellor Rachel Reeves upcoming Autumn budget
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